Ok, friends, pop quiz...what's my favorite place to get coffee?
If you've been part of the One Artsy Mama community for more than five minutes, I hope you immediately yelled, "STARBUCKS!" Which, of course, would make you 100% correct.
You get an A+ on the quiz and if I could, I'd give you a gold star. Instead, you'll just have to earn gold stars on your Starbucks card and think of me.
You also get extra credit if you can name my favorite thing to order at Starbucks {answers at the end of the post, so keep reading}! As you already know, I frequent the local Starbucks several times a week with Little Crafter for breakfast and treat dates, but one thing I'd never really tried is brewing my own Starbucks coffee at home. Recently, we were in Walmart, and I noticed this Delicious Pairings display in the bakery section.
The Starbucks logo caught my eye in a big way, so I pulled Little Crafter {who was more interested in the donuts} over to see what it was all about. They had various kinds of ground coffee on display and each type of roast had an accompanying sign suggesting what kinds of food would be a good match for it. Kind of like how some restaurants suggest certain wines with certain entrees...pretty cool, huh?
I'm not really much of an expert on "plain" coffee since I usually order my "fru-fru" drinks, so I started reading the descriptions to decide what to buy. I noticed that the Dark Roasts go well with a lot of different foods. I'm not a huge nut fan {or roasted vegetables either}, but caramelized sugar, milk and dark chocolate are right up my alley!!
Any coffee that pairs well with chocolate has to be a win, right? I picked up a bag of the
Dark French Roast, then moved on to the baked goods. I decided that I'd grab something tasty we could have for an
easy breakfast at home.
I was tempted by lots of good looking muffins and chocolate items, but since this was going to be breakfast for Little Crafter as well as just for me, chocolate wasn't an option
{I cannot for the life of me figure out why he doesn't like it}! We both love cinnamon rolls, so I picked up a pack of the
Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls with White Icing.
He's an icing-a-haulic...whenever he orders a dessert somewhere, he tells the person to bring him "the one with the most icing." You should have seen how big his eyes got when he saw how well-iced these rolls were!
The perfect pairing? We didn't have to wait long to find out. I was glad to have them on hand because the weather here in Artsy Land has been a little unpredictable lately. You'll wake up to sunshine, then ten minutes later it starts snowing hard and looks like this. A few hours later, the sun comes out again. You never know whether it's a good time to go out or if you should just stay in.
So, on a snowy morning, it's the perfect time to have our own
at-home breakfast date to start the day. Little Crafter and I like to sit at the "tall table" in the kitchen with the two tall stool-chairs and pretend we're in a coffee shop.
The coffee smelled ah-MA-zing while it was brewing, and mmm...look at that icing-y cinnamon-y yumminess!
I tried the coffee by itself first {
in my Ravens Super Bowl Champion tumbler, of course} to see how I liked the
Dark French Roast. Now, let it be duly noted that I am a coffee wuss. Hubby drinks his black...
I like a little coffee with my cream and sugar. My first impression was that it was a little on the strong side, although for a dark roast I suppose that comes with the territory. I added a little more cream and sugar, then tried it again. Much better. Now it was sweet enough for my taste, but it still had that rich, full-bodied taste I've come to expect from Starbucks coffee.
Time to try the Gourmet Cinnamon Roll. Talk about sweet cinnamon-y deliciousness! It was just the right texture, had lots of tasty cinnamon, and the icing to roll ratio was ideal for two icing lovers. Look at Little Crafter's face...he totally thinks he's getting away with something eating this treat as a meal!
And, then it was time to try the coffee and cinnamon roll together. Isn't it funny how sometimes the flavor of one thing brings out the flavor in another? That's what happened. The deep, rich flavor of the coffee really complimented the sweetness of the cinnamon and the icing. Definitely a tasty at-home alternative to going out for a breakfast date!
Little Crafter, of course, didn't get to try the coffee, but he did attack that cinnamon roll. As with any new food, he had to lick it first to see what he thought. It was love at first taste, and he finished almost the whole thing, which is quite impressive for a four-year-old tummy.
We always play games and read books when we go on breakfast dates, which we can also easily do in our pretend coffee shop at home. Why is it that he always wins?
I think both of us are more than happy to make easy breakfast dates at home a regular part of our week.
Oh, and by the way, my Starbucks in-store favorites are seasonal. In the summer, I love the coconut mocha {iced, hot, and frappuccino}, in the fall I love salted caramel mocha {iced is best!}, winter is peppermint mocha {hot!}, and spring is chai latte {iced or hot}. Yummm!
What's your favorite easy at-home breakfast?
Hugs & Glitter,
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. #cbias #SocialFabric
